Life Through My Eyes

I Must Be Stuck On Some Type Of Perpetual Re-Run Play Cycle

Things occur frequently enough that I lose track of time, so please forgive me if my accuracy is off a bit. About 3-4 weeks ago I developed some soreness in the right side of my tongue, ear and neck. This is the same side that I had originally had my very first biopsy and followup surgery on approximately 6-7 years ago when I first discovered that I had Leukoplakia on my tongue. Soon after the soreness started and after looking around in my mouth, we found what appeared to be some sort of cut further back on the right side of my tongue. The next day the pain had got worse and the sore now appeared to be looking almost like a boil with a white center. By this time I was gargling with salt water....not knowing what else to do. I immediately made an appointment with my ENT doctor and we went to see him the next day. When I went in to see the doctor, the sore was almost gone except for some redness but the pain was still present. I went out to the car and got my camera and showed the doctor what the sore had looked like the day before. He was very surprised and the huge difference between what he was seeing in the camera and what was in front of him at this time.
Because the sore appeared to be going away on its own, my doctor decided to give it a few days and then return to see if the sore and the pain had completely disappeared.
So after returning home I decided to continue gargling with the salt water and I also started using some hydrogen peroxide on the sore and surrounding area.
Over the next few days, I found that the sore came back to some extent and that I felt really wiped out by afternoon. I mean I was really dragging and was not really hungry or eating much. It was during this time frame that I had watched a couple of shows that we had taped that dealt with "alternative medicines". Besides dealing with my ongoing bouts of mouth issues that have already included two biopsies, I also have Mast Cell Disease in my Bone Marrow along with having to be careful on watching what I eat and my weight because Diabetes runs in my family. Of course there is the laundry list of other mundane issues that are a pain on a daily basis...arthritis, torn meniscus in my knee.....
I decided that I would give one of these legal alternative medicines a try to see of it would help my situation..... CanChewGum.
Yesterday I got my gum in and started to use that and I also returned to my ENT. My ENT used a scope device that he put up my nose in order to look down in the back of my tongue, throat and voice box. This procedure was not one that I was looking forward to at all. It turned out not to be as bad as I was expecting but not anything that I would stand in line to have done again. Nothing dramatic was seen through this scope device other than a little redness on the back side of my tongue.
The doctor decided that we would try to take care of the sore by using an antibiotic and if this did not work then another biopsy would be in order.
If we end up doing another biopsy it would be a rough one due to the location of the sore. It is further back on my tongue compared to the other last two biopsies.
I have to go back in about 10 days to see if the antibiotics worked or not. I am hoping that between the gum, gargling with salt water, hydrogen peroxide and the antibiotics that we can get rid of this sore.
This Thursday we go to see my Oncologist to get his thoughts about this sore and to see if my Mast Cell Disease has anything to do with all of these sores and mouth issues.
Keeping my fingers crossed that goods things will happen over the next 7-10 days.

Getting Closer To Our Big Getaway

Veronica and I are only about 30 days away from flying over to Marco Polo Airport and going to Venice for a couple of days before boarding the NCL Jade for a 14 day cruise that includes visits to ports in Italy, several Greek Isles, Croatia & Dubrovnik.
I am still compiling and printing information from various on line resources and putting the info into a folder to take with us.
Tonight I will be go through the Tripadvisor web site looking at various restaurants such as pizza places, pasta places, bread and pastry shops....anything that looks good that we might want to try while we are walking around and exploring Venice. Besides the pictures on Tripadvisor, I will also look through the ratings and reviews and find a location for the ones that are chosen. I will then print out the information of each one and file them in that folder.
I had already ordered and received from Amazon.com a couple of waterproof and detailed street maps of Venice along with a Rick Steve's Pocket Venice book.
By the time I get done, we will have more than enough information to go anywhere or to get anything we need in Venice.
I almost forgot to mention....I have been trying to get an upgrade from our Inside Cabin to a Balcony Cabin but the prices are still extremely high. My contact at NCL, whom I have been dealing with since I first booked this cruise last October, was able to get me a complimentary upgrade from our Inside Cabin to a Oceanview Cabin that has a good sized window in it and a little more room. This new cabin is in a good location on the ship also.
I will continue my attempts to get us into a Balcony Cabin as we get a little closer to our sailing date. Hopefully things will loosen up a little when we are about 2 weeks out.